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I was changing my wallet today; I wanted to reuse one of my old wallets. As I was pulling out my old wallet, it felt a bit thick for being “empty”. To my surprise I found a stack of cards stashed away inside (eg. various business cards & store point punch cards). This was the biggest surprise of all! Many great memories came flooding back as I was sorting through these punch cards.

Ever since I was a small child up until my early twenties, I used to shop at my local Sanrio™ shop probably once or twice a month or so. (It got worse when I was able to drive a car.) Each time you made a purchase of a certain dollar amount or more, you would get your point card stamped. Then, when you filled up your card(s), you were able to redeem them for prizes. The more point cards you accumulated, the bigger (for lack of a better word) the prize you could get. I would save all of my cards each time to get the highest point value prize. I was probably saving these cards for something special I wanted…which is of no use now, since Sanrio™ has discontinued their point card program for quite a few years already.

Not only do these point cards bring up memories of the times I used to regularly shop at this store, but it also triggers memories of the wonderful times spent working there as well. Yes, I used to work at my local Sanrio™ shop. One of the greatest memories I have of that shop was the day I was invited to work there. The shop manager kept noticing me every time I shopped there. So, one day she approached me & told me that I should just work there since I would visit often enough, & I would get a sweet employee discount. That sealed the deal for me. I ended up working there for approximately four years, made lots of fun friends, learned how to appreciate everybody working in the retail industry right down to the “little guys” behind the cash register & taking out the trash. I had so much fun working at that place. I even got a big compliment from our regional manager for having an overly-obsessive knowledge of all things Hello Kitty & Sanrio.

Those times have long since come & gone. The shop I once worked at has changed ownership & management, moved to a new location, & now looks completely unrecognizeable. A new shop has taken up our old location within the shopping mall. However, the memories still remain each time I walk past that storefront. Those surely were the good ol’ days. Cheers.

Hi, I’m Melsenpai, & I have a problem. That’s how these confessions usually start off, right? Well, to really get into it, I do have a problem…a stationery hoarding problem. It mostly revolves around postcards & pens, but today I will only be focusing on pens.

This all started when I was a small child back in the mid 80s. My aunts & uncles from Japan would always send my parents presents & snacks from overseas, & they would often include small trinkets for my sister & I (mostly Sanrio/Hello Kitty related). Also at that time, my sister’s dad (my mom’s ex-husband) used to manufacture licensed Sanrio merchandise. So, my sister would always get a whole bunch of free Sanrio stuff, which she would pass on to me if she didn’t want them or got bored of them. That really jump started my huge obsession/fanaticism/passion for practically ALL THINGS SANRIO. Then, when you couple this with my habit of hoarding (a.k.a. not wanting to give away or throw away any of my toys & things), that’s where the snowball effect came into play.

What I am about to show is only a portion of my pen collection (with a couple of mechanical pencils thrown into the mix). I’ve got many more pens scattered around the house & stashed away in old storage boxes. A while back I got this large craft box from the Container Store & quickly filled it with stickers, pens & other supplies.

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That is what the box looked like before I went nuts. Over the course of one year plus that box became cramped, dare I say…too small. I filled up that box with what my husband would call “useless junk”…but I would call them my treasures! After my last few trips to Tokyo, this is what my craft box has become.

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I had to take out all of my pens. They were becoming unruly & kept falling out every time I opened the box. This box now houses a majority of my stickers & a few washi masking tapes.

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I now store all of my pens in a new box, which I lovingly refer to as Trevor. (Yes, I gave it a name.)

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Trevor is slowly being filled up as well. However, despite all of my “hoarding”, I DO, in fact, use all of these things. I don’t just collect them for the fun of it. I actually use the stationery I buy. Though it may take a long time for me to use them all. I keep adding to my stockpile before I can finish them. Oh well. Cheers.

I have tried many beauty products before, & I’ve got to admit that I really like all of the products I’ve gotten in Japan.  There is one particular product that I’ve purchased recently that I have absolutely fell in love with.  The product is called Aroma Moist Cream, manufactured by Kowa Company, Ltd.  It is a rich hand & foot moisturizing cream that comes in five different scents (Grace Rose, Relaxing Lavender, White Floral Bouquet, Juicy Citron, & Herb & Fruits Tea).

I came across this cream one day while I was riding the JR metro train with my husband. I happened to spot this advertisement posted next to the train doors & took a picture of the ad with my cellphone camera thinking that I could show the photo to my Japanese friend. Perhaps she could help me find out where I could buy this cream.  Then, one evening, one of my female friends had asked to stop by one of the drug stores near our hotel, & that’s when I stumbled upon this cream.  It must have been fate, or a coincidence, or something like that.  I was so excited that I found this cream, I was tempted to get one tube in every scent.  However, my husband being the skeptic (& logical/sensible one), told me to just get one or two tubes since I didn’t know if I would like it or not.  I ended up getting two tubes (Grace Rose & Herb & Fruits Tea).

I just fell in love with this cream almost immediately.  The cream itself starts off really smooth & soft, but as you work the product into your skin, it becomes thick & rich in texture.  It really moisturizes the hands well, & it leaves a gentle scent (not an overpowering perfume smell).  No matter what the season, my hands are always feeling dry & my cuticles are always cracked &/or peeling.  After using this Aroma Moist Cream for about a month, my hands are feeling less dry & my cuticles are slowly coming back to life.  I don’t usually like floral scented anything, but I’ve been using the Grace Rose scented cream, & I am enjoying the soft fragrance.  It has a very delicate flower smell without smelling like a chemical perfume (eg. Febreez or those Glade plug-ins).  The Herb & Fruits Tea scent has notes of eucalyptus, cassis, rosemary, roses & pear. I haven’t yet tried the Juicy Citron scent…so I’m excited to try it soon.

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By the time I had returned from my trip to Tokyo this past November, I was mentally kicking myself for not getting more.  For weeks I had scoured the internet to see if I could buy this cream online (like at: Rakuten or Amazon) or find out any information about this product.  I had practically hit a dead end, until miraculously I was able to find this cream on the Amazon Japan website.  The price was also the same as what I paid in Japan which was ¥590 JPY (roughly $5.83 USD).  I didn’t waste any time buying more of this cream.  I quickly bought 6 tubes, but I didn’t quite buy all of the scents.  The scents I purchased this time were: (more) Grace RoseJuicy Citron, & (more) Herb & Fruits Tea.  I think I may have gone a little overboard with the hand creams, but since this cream is hard to get/find, I had to grab as much as I could to fill up my addiction to this cream!  Buying these creams through Amazon Japan was a bit of a hassle, since there are, sadly, a lot of products that cannot be shipped to the United States through their website.  However, I found a small loophole in which I used a forwarding service to be able to ship these to my American address.  Unfortunately, you do need to pay a shipping & handling fee to the forwarding service, which can get expensive, but for small items such as these creams the small fee was well worth it…& these sweet babies arrived on my doorstep just in time!  I am so happy I was able to find these creams again, & I can’t wait to use the other scents!!

On a side note, here’s a little trick I learned from my mom on how to “squeeze” the most out of a tube of hand cream (or a tube of just about anything).  Once I’ve squeezed a majority of the product through the cap of the tube, instead of squeezing the tube until it is flat, I will cut off approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the end of the tube.  Then, I can reach in & scrape off the remaining product from the walls of the tube.  To cover the open end of the tube, I will use the cut-off end of the tube as a cap.  Voila!  It’s an easy way to get the most out of your tubed products.
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